Riding the "Tahn-Tune"

Thanks to two weekends of the flu at our house, plus a 5k weekend and the two fabulous trips to Michigan, we have not been up to the lake or to see Grandma and Grandpa Zwagerman since Memorial Day.  And because the weather was so bad both of the weekends in May we were visiting, that means that we hit the Fourth of July without a ride on the "Tahn-Tune", the new boat (a pontoon, which eldest niece heard as "tontoon", which is now the boat's official name)!

Luckily, when all of us headed North to celebrate the Independence Day Holiday weekend (Happy Birthday, America!), the weather cooperated and we had a fabulous long weekend with family and friends.  Time on the boat and in the water, karaoke, the Barefoot, S'mores, even a haircut, it was another big weekend for Liam!

Now it's time to do some laundry, get some groceries, and get ready for another busy week and possibly weekend.  Liam gets his ears checked tomorrow at the ENT (fingers crossed the tubes are still doing the job) and then later in the week we have Liam's 18-month appointment (and shots, poor kid).  I am looking forward to getting the official height and weight measurements though, but I really cannot believe that we have had Liam in our lives for 18 months already. 

Liam Becomes a Yooper! (Temporarily at least...)

Liam and I just got back from our second trip to Michigan this month...this time we hit the Upper Peninsula to go meet baby Lilah, visit Lilah's parents, and see all the family up in Big Bay. It was, as always, a wonderful visit with everyone there, but too short a trip. Liam and Lilah hit it off and Ariane and I are thinking it might be a good idea to just arrange the marriage now :)

Visits with Ariane are always refreshing, and I'm fortunate to have someone I can call my best friend for over 30 years now! I hope that someday Liam is so lucky to have someone like that in his life. Liam had a ton of fun with all the family, he was just fascinated watching all the big kids and dogs running around and laughing and having fun. It was wonderful to have Liam meet the rest of the U.P family and we are already looking forward to our next visit!

The Williams Boys (and Girls!)

Liam and I took our first long roadtrip together, and he was an AMAZING travel companion.  He did so good on the road, despite dealing with a virus, that we actually did the whole drive home (600+ miles!) in one day.  The best part of the trip though, was seeing and spending time with all the family.  I always love the opportunity to see the aunts, uncles and cousins, but for Liam, this was his first time meeting many of them!  With only about 72 hours in the state of Michigan, the visit was too short (as always).  Liam got to hang with almost all of the Williams boys, learned basic skills like eating pretzels and "high-stakes" card games, and observed a cut-throat game of Williams-family Wiffle ball.  He also developed a strong case of hero worship for his 10-year-old cousin Joey, who fortunately was really good with his shadow. He also got to play with the Beck boys, where he learned the joys of the merry-go-round and then had the rest of us giggling as he bopped and weaved.  All in all, a completely successful trip!

We have our next big trip already this week, up to visit more family, Aunt Susan, Uncle Jerry, Steph, Ava and hopefully the boys, and meet Miss Lilah (oh, and see her parents too of course!). :)

CHEEEESSSEEEE!!

Liam loves the camera.  I mean LOVES the camera.  He will pick up my phone, and instead of put it to his ear, he will turn it around so that he is looking at the back of it, hold it away from him, and say "CHEESE!".  And if I break out the real camera, he makes sure he gets in front of it. And of course, I take his picture, because he is too cute to resist!

I was taking a few photos to update our real estate listing after finishing all the painting, and Liam kept running into the room.  So we did an impromptu photo shoot

May Round-up!

Life continues to move forward here in Iowa, and Baby Lamb continues to grow and entertain.  He has such a personality, and he loves to laugh -- and to make us laugh.  He ADORES Curious George, and good old George has become our new best friend when we travel.  The tablet, a holder attached to the seat, a few episodes of CG, and we can make the drive to the lake without stopping (with the addition of a few books and snacks that is).  This will be put to the test this coming week as Liam and I go on our first road trip, heading to MI to see all the family.  We'll be splitting the drive up, but it is still a long drive for a little man.

Liam is no longer in the "baby" room at daycare, as of June 1 he was moved up to the "Tots" and we've already seen changes that come with hanging out with the older kids!  He's started to "shush" us at random times, to count, and to be much more independent.  The stubborn streak is emerging more often, but he has a great, loving personality to balance it all out!

We took two trips up to the lake to visit Grandma and Grandpa in May, but the weather did NOT cooperate either time, so Liam hasn't had a chance to ride on the new "tontoon" yet :)  He still likes to snuggle up with me and watch a show or two before bed, and I enjoy every single minute of that snuggle time because I know it won't last. 

The perfect reading chair at the lake...especially on a rainy weekend

Reading to Grandpa

Reading with Grandma

Learning the finer points of how to play cornhole

Mr. Cool

Mr. Cool trying to take Harley on a walk

My kids

Trouble.  Trouble with a capital "T"

Grandma and 3 of her 4 grandkids

Working on his art

The joys of sidewalk chalk

Time Flies Part Two

The past two months continued...

We celebrated Daddy's birthday...

And Grandma and Grandpa brought a fabulous present to Iowa (although someone now HATES to go inside), while also sharing the fun of playing "monkey in the middle"...

We reconfirmed Liam's status as "grandpa's boy"...

And we worked on becoming a basketball star...sort of...

We found our belly...

And we celebrated Easter with the family (looking quite handsome of course!)

OH BOY! There are nilla wafers/goldfish in that egg!

A good looking trio of cousins!

And that concludes the brief photo collage of the past two months!

Time Flies

I can't believe it has been two months since I posted last!  We've had a lot of fun and a lot of adventures with our little monkey since then, which I'll try to summarize here.  He's not so little anymore though, he is definitely turning into a little boy and not a baby.  It is so exciting to see him grow, yet a little sad at the same time.

Meeting Clifford:

Clifford, who is a favorite at our house, turns 50 this year!  To celebrate, the Des Moines Public Libraries (which I LOVE) had a Clifford story hour at various time and locations in the city.  One was near Drake, so Liam and I took the morning off and hit the library!  I wasn't sure how he'd do with the group and with the big stuffed creature, but I should have known better than to worry.  We had to pry him away from Clifford to leave and he was fascinated listening during the story time.

The Simple Joys
We also discovered the joy of boxes and the microphone

Williams Family Visit

Then we hit March, which started off with a fabulous visit from the family, including cousin Kaeson.  This was fun to see as Liam had to share his "stuff" and he wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Overall, he seemed to like having Kaeson around though!

Grandpa and his boys

Hattie's Birthday
Our next big event was Hattie's second birthday, which Liam enjoyed every bit as much as Hattie did I think when it came to the cake!  He also learned to "play" piano and introduced Amelia to the joys of "Super Why".

 





























Chilling
We also spent a lot of time just relaxing, kicking back, and being generally adorable.  We'll pick up next post with the Easter photos!